Feminist criticism of Erin Brokovich Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Feminist criticism of Erin Brokovich - Essay Example ance of the woman, Erin Brockovich, whose reliance on her sex appeal lands her in a mess until she finds her mission as a legal assistant espousing the cause of a small community ravaged by pollution from PG&E’s plant. The film is considered one of the most progressive movies of recent decades. However, despite much ado about its being a feminist film, it also resorts to the objectification of woman for male viewing pleasure. Erin Brockovich, an unemployed single mother of three, is on a losing streak that leads to a dismissed lawsuit against a rich doctor. She had hoped to cash in on the lawsuit but loses on it because of her brash and indecorous outbursts in court. Playing on her lawyer’s sense of guilt, she succeeds in browbeating him to employ her. The highlight of her past has been a reign as Miss Wichita. She has remained blinded by the easy, cheap triumphs her beauty got her. Married and divorced twice, she struggles to raise her three children. Without a man to lean on or even a job to support her, life has seemed headed for disaster. She wears tight, short, cleavage-enhancing costumes that indicate her crass, low-class taste. Her trashy clothes and earthy manners are abrasive to co-workers, as illustrated by the dialogue between her employer and herself. They gradually learn to tolerate her when she begins to investigate a suspicious case involving the Pacific Gas & Electric Company. She discovers that residents in the area are being poisoned by toxic hexavalent chromium that the company is dumping and that the company is trying quietly to buy out the contaminated land. She perseveres, to find herself in the middle of one of the biggest class action lawsuits in American history. Julia Roberts portrays a fiercely independent modern American woman with gusto, pathos and humour. Other characters are secondary, and her constant presence and indomitable spirit relegate even the facts of the real-life case to the background. The film avoids standard